DJ Hero Renegade Edition spins $200 price tag - Retail Radar

During Activision Blizzard's pre-E3 analyst conference call, CEO Robert Kotick talked to investors about the rising price of games. He noted that gamers who might have spent $50 on a game in the last generation are willing to spend upward of $500 on a game this time around, thanks to trends like spin-offs, expensive peripherals, downloadable content, and limited edition bundles.

Kotick might have been speaking of the company's existing success with Guitar Hero games, but the same sentiment is clearly reflected in the coming holiday season's Activision Blizzard lineup. Tony Hawk: Ride will come bundled with a skateboard peripheral for $120. Modern Warfare 2 has a $150 night-vision goggle-equipped Prestige Edition. Guitar Hero 5 will have the usual assortment of instrument peripherals and downloadable content, as well as spin-offs in Band Hero, Guitar Hero: Van Halen, and DJ Hero.

Packed in with a new turntable peripheral, DJ Hero is already twice the price of a standard game release at $120. Even so, Activision Blizzard believes there's such demand for the game that it announced a Renegade Edition package last week, featuring a black-and-gold turntable controller, a hard-shell turntable carrying case that converts to a stand, and an exclusive two-pack of Jay-Z and Eminem CDs.

No price for the Renegade Edition was announced at the time, but GameStop is currently accepting preorders for the package on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii with a $199.99 price tag attached. The regular edition of DJ Hero will come to all those systems, as well as the PlayStation 2.

For more on the title, check out GameSpot's previous coverage of DJ Hero.